Daily Photo Galleries

Editors Picks Photo Galleries

Traveling by Jeep, boat and foot, Tribune-Review investigative reporter Carl Prine and photojournalist Justin Merriman covered nearly 2,000 miles over two months along the border with Mexico to report on coyotes — the human traffickers who bring illegal immigrants into the United States. Most are Americans working for money and/or drugs. This series reports how their operations have a major impact on life for residents and the environment along the border — and beyond.

By The Associated Press

Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, 6:54 a.m.

NEW YORK — A prized 1963 Andy Warhol painting that captures the immediate aftermath of a car crash has sold for $105 million at a New York City auction, shattering the record for the famed pop artist amid a spending frenzy at the high end of the art world.

The 8- by 13-foot painting titled “Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)” depicts a twisted body sprawled across a car's mangled interior. It has only been seen once in public in the past 26 years. Sotheby's, which conducted the auction Wednesday, did not immediately identify the buyer.

The previous Warhol auction record was set in 2007 when “Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)” sold for $71.7 million.

Another iconic Warhol, “Coca-Cola (3),” sold for $57.2 million Tuesday at Christie's auction house, and his portrait of Elizabeth Taylor titled “Liz (hash)1 (Early Colored Liz)” sold for $20 million Wednesday.

A Willem de Kooning abstract painting in red, yellow and white called “Untitled V,” not seen in public since 1980, sold for $24.8 million Wednesday. The sale fell short of the record for the artist's works, set Tuesday at Christie's with the sale of his “Untitled VIII” from 1977.

Sotheby's said the sale brought in over $480.4 million. None of Wednesday's buyers were identified.

The Warhol record came just a day after the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction went for $142.4 million to conclude six minutes of feverish bidding at Christie's. The hefty price tag for a 1967 Francis Bacon triptych called “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” shattered the previous world record — nearly $120 million paid for Edvard Munch's “The Scream” at a 2012 Sotheby's sale.

Christie's said the winning bid went to New York City's Acquavella Galleries. It is believed that the gallery was buying it for an unidentified client.

Over the past 10 days, auction houses around the world have presided over bids totaling nearly $2 billion for art and jewelry, Sotheby's said. Christie's said Tuesday's sale brought in more than $691.5 million, the highest total for any single auction in history.

Buyers from Asia, the Middle East and Russia play a big role in the contemporary art market, said Richard Feigen, an art dealer and collector whose Manhattan gallery has works spanning from the 14th century to contemporary art.

“The demand for seminal works by historical important artists is truly unquestionable, and we will keep witnessing new records being broken,” said Michael Frahm, a contemporary art adviser and partner at the London-based Frahm Ltd.

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Total Promotional Solutions

A division of Trib Total Media is your one-stop-shop for all of your branded merchandise needs.

We specialize in providing quality affordable promotional products for every type of business including non-profits, schools, universities, sports teams and more. With 1000’s of products to choose from, our knowledgeable staff can help you find the perfect apparel item or product to suit your needs and budget.

Digital Sales

We offer a wide variety of traditional and new digital advertising options customized to fit your needs!

Whether you're just starting out, or you've been a keystone in the community for years, our knowledgeable staff can provide you with a customized package including online banners/advertisements, Social Media Marketing (Facebook / Twitter), Website development, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing solutions and much more!

Contact your local sales rep today for details, personalized proposal and a meeting to discuss how we can meet your needs.